Scugog councillors agreed on Monday night to take a step forward in the ongoing battle against the unruly weeds that are choking large parts of the lake and convene a roundtable of sorts to discuss the situation.

"It's a complex problem and right now we don't have an answer to that complex problem," said Scugog Mayor Chuck Mercier.

The Township's decision to touch base with various stakeholders and begin discussing the lake's weed woes in earnest came on the heels of a deputation by Barbara Karthein, president of the Scugog Lake Stewards.

During her brief presentation, Ms. Karthein outlined how the weed problem in Lake Scugog, in particular a hybridized form of milfoil, has seemingly taken over the lake in recent years.

"We believe something must be done. The lake needs help," Ms. Karthein told councillors. "It's a very complex problem that has no one simple solution... We must all act and all act together."

Lake Scugog has long been the crown jewel of the township, but the beautiful natural landmark has started to lose its lustre due to the overabundance of weeds.

The Scugog Lake Stewards launched an ambitious pilot project in 2009 to combat the weeds when they purchased 20,000 weevils and sent them on a mission to chomp their way through the milfoil.

While that effort has been deemed a slow-scale success, the lake stewards turned to the Township on Oct. 1 for help in waging war against the weeds.

In particular, Ms. Karthein asked Mayor Mercier to lead discussions with Trent-Severn Waterway, the federal agency that oversees what happens on Lake Scugog.

The agency has strict regulations that govern what actions can be done to remove and combat weeds, as well as when that work can be carried out.

Ms. Karthein is hopeful that high-level discussions between the various stakeholders can lead to some "regulatory easing."

She also called on the Township to double its budget for a lake maintenance program and help facilitate a scientific analysis of the most viable solutions to the excess water milfoil problem.

"You're preaching to the converted. We all know there's a problem with the lake," said Regional Councillor Bobbie Drew following the deputation.

She agreed that a round-table meeting might produce the desired results and noted that she also liked the idea of dredging the lake. The regional councillor balked, however, at a suggestion the Township purchase a $50,000 machine to harvest and skim the weeds.

Scugog budgeted $10,000 in 2012 to harvest weeds in the Port Perry area; about $8,000 of that amount was spent. The Township has hired a contractor to harvest weeds from a small portion of the lake just off the shores of Palmer Park for a number of years now.

The effectiveness of that work, however, was questioned by Mayor Mercier.

"Did it make any difference, the $8,000, $9,000, $10,000 we spent this summer or not?" asked the mayor, noting from his viewpoint it seemed the weeds returned shortly after they were harvested.

"We have to talk about what we want and how we're going to pay for it," he said.

Howard Danson, Scugog's Ward 5 councillor, agreed that "someone has to be responsible for the lake," but stressed he'd like to see "concrete facts" on how weeds in the lake are impacting the local economy.

"Hard economic facts are what we need" before making any decisions, he said.

Scugog's mayor later pledged to co-ordinate a meeting with officials from the Trent-Severn Waterway, Kawartha Conservation, the Province and lake stewards to address both short- and long-term solutions for the weeds and the funding required.

"We can no longer say it's someone else's problem," said Ms. Karthein. "The whole community is interested in this because it's a big problem."